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“But, do we really need a website? Will that get more people to come to our events?”These are the questions I get from bar or venue owners when I talk to them about web development strategies.And, my answer is not always yes.

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The 5 Keys To Developing An Unbeatable Real Estate Website

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The Internet Of Money: How Cryptocurrencies Have Revolutionized Economics(And Why We Don't Know It Yet)

What The Hell Is Money -- Anyway? Money is an inextricable part of our lives. Being wealthy won’t necessarily make you happy, but being dirt poor will almost certainly stress you the hell out, as a now famous Princeton study showed us. As we try to juggle success and paying bills, with living the lifestyle that gives us joy, we rarely question some of the most basic premises about what gives money its value, and its power to orchestrate our lives. Many don’t realize that money is simply created out of thin air, and that the only thing that ensures its stability is that it’s backed by the full faith and confidence of the United States government.The Centralized ModelWhat’s more, dollars aren’t tethered to anything of inherent value, such as gold, as they were in the past. The confusing financial lingo and complex monetary terminology seems designed to conceal the simple truth: that the asset we spend our lives pursuing is conjured out of thin air by a politically independent Central Bank, governed not by Congress, but by mysterious private shareholders whose identities are completely hidden from the public. Pretty whacky, but absolutely true. A central bank creating monetary policy that is often arbitrary, secretive, and complex seemed unavoidable, but not anymore. With the advent of technology that controls monetary policy through the power of math and logic, rather than a central authority, we now have the potential to create currencies that are self-governing and rational.Nakamoto's Revelation Bitcoin was the fist of the digital currencies to utilize this technology, invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, a mysterious software engineer whose real identity is still unknown. Nakamoto created a self-governing system that controls the value, transfer, and purchasing power of a currency. It works by making all currency transactions transparent through the use of a public ledger. The ledger is verified by a complex algorithm, run by bitcoin miners. Miners are Bitcoin enthusiasts who use computing power to process Bitcoin’s algorithm, which verifies every Bitcoin transaction on the public ledger, visible to all users.​

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The Bionics Revolution:The Power To See Without Eyes

Like it or not, the access to information that technology provides is rapidly becoming a more intimate part of our lives. As computers have migrated from entire buildings, to desks, to laps, to pockets, to wrists, they beg the question: where will they go next?To top technologists, the answer is evident. Computers will go from simply getting closer to us, to becoming part of us. Cranial implants have already become common for the handicapped, with remarkable success. Bionic eyes are now being developed to provide sight to the blind.But, recreating sight will have implications that extend far beyond the visually impaired. Bionic eyes may well provide the foundation for a new world of knowledge -- the ultimate graphical user interface. Considering bionics can already provide a graphical representation of a user’s surroundings, what’s to stop engineers from interlacing data with those graphics?The time may soon come that when I look at you, I can also see your Facebook page, latest tweets, your Linkedin professional network, your real-time GPS location if you happen to be behind a wall, and where you checked into Yelp for lunch, if, that is, you’ve set that information to be available publicly. But, why wouldn’t you? Odds are, you’ve already made that information accessible to those you trust through a quick Google search. By simply replacing one eye for a bionic one, it may well be possible to open up a whole new world of information, data, connection, communication, and knowledge. Sound scary or intrusive? New technology always does. Rest assured, the fields of information security, privacy, and encryption are growing even faster than bionics. As years pass, the tools available to keep information from outsiders, while making it available to those we trust will only multiply.

“But, how can we stand out? Why would someone choose one of our listings over one of the big guys’?”

These were the questions I heard, weather I was developing a simple landing page for a woman in Canada trying to sell her two properties, or a brokerage in Brooklyn trying to increase market share. With giants like Zillow and Trulia, we have to take a unique approach to developing a real-estate web presence. Luckily, we don’t have to compete on the same value propositions as the real estate monsters, if we offer something unique and different. These are the lessons I’ve learned helping real estate firms develop a competitive edge online.

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There’s a reason why when you visit the website of a brokerage that’s establishing real market traction that the homepage often consists of almost exclusively a search bar that allows the user to search listings. In building a real estate website, you’re essentially building a web app that connects the user to the properties he’s interested in.

Users’ primary interest is in the properties. The credentials and branding of the company is a secondary to this concern. Advanced search that allows users to search properties based on specific features can be particularly helpful. The number one mistake I’ve seen is real estate firms selling their company, instead of their properties.

Prioritize Search

Because users’ main concern is the listings, it’s important to provide as much information about them as possible. These details should be media rich, and detailed. Location, neighborhood, price, living restrictions (occupancy, non-smoking, etc.), payment plan, application requirements and agent’s information are among the details you should include

Provide Details On Your Listings​

Users’ benefit by being to interact with and visualize your listings’ location. Implementing a Google Map UI is how to give your users the ability to see your listings spread over a specific location and narrow down their search.​

Provide An Interactive Map

An optional but helpful addition to a real estate site is to integrate a secure payment system for users to issue payments for listings. This also allows you to document receivables for specific listings in an easy, streamlined way that requires less accounting and due diligence. It’s long been established in ecommerce that the easier you make it for a user to pay, and more likely they are to do so. Logical enough.​

This is where you create your competitive edge over the big guys. When people are looking for somewhere to live, they are looking for more than a property. They are looking for a lifestyle, a state of mind, and a feeling. The feeling they are looking for can be demonstrated through a niched content strategy that bigger firms simply don’t have the time to implement for their massive volume of properties.

Content & Blogging

By blogging about the neighborhood of your listings, you can demonstrate the feeling of what it’s like to live in that property. The community, demographic, and history of a place can do more to sell a potential client than just the property itself. Tell a compelling story about what it’s like to live in the neighborhood of your listings and you will be selling your client on a feeling and a dream, not just a property.​​

Building a real estate web presence demonstrates something about the human condition. We all want more than a house. We want to feel at home. Deliver that feeling to your user, and you win. What’s more, they win too.​